Texas A&M was thankful for the new McFerrin Athletic Center after thunderstorms rolled through College Station for most of the day. The Aggies practiced in full pads in the morning before coming together again for a session in the afternoon in helmets and shorts.

Thursday was the first day the Aggies have been forced inside because of the weather.

"We were fortunate with the indoor today because of all the lightning and the thunderstorms. I don't know how we would have gotten this morning's practice in outdoors with all of the elements, so we didn't miss a beat and had a good morning practice in pads," said A&M head coach Dennis Franchione. "We worked on overtime and two-point plays and different aspects of the game like that. Tonight we were in shorts and helmets, so it was kind of a review and teaching day to correct some mistakes. All in all it was a pretty good day, and we got to spend a lot of time outside this afternoon.

"We would have been in a full scramble today trying to figure out how to balance. You either practice two today or you lose one, so how do you balance that with the weather and the elements. Do we go to the Rec center or what do we do? Do we hope the lightning passes? It didn't look good for that to happen. Actually I'm surprised it didn't get worse as the day wore on. It's really immeasurable."

The new indoor facility has been a blessing for more than just getting out of the elements. Franchione said that he can see a major difference in his team's performance compared to past camps, and he attributes it to the new facility.